Hazelwood+School+Dist.+v.+United+States

**U.S. Supreme Court ** **Hazelwood Sch. Dist. v. United States, 433 U.S. 299 (1977) ** **Hazelwood School District v. United States, ** **No. 76-255 ** **Argued April 27, 1977 ** **Decided June 27, 1977 ** **433 U.S. 299 **
 * Kari Graves **

The United States brought this suit alleging that the Hazelwood School District were engaged in a "pattern or practice" of teacher employment discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The district court ruled that the government had failed to establish a pattern of discrimination. The court of appeals reversed the decision, because they felt that the trial court's analysis of statistical data were an irrelevant comparison of black teachers to black pupils in instead of a comparison of black teachers in Hazelwood to black teachers in the relevant labor market areas, to include St. Louis County and the city of St. Louis. The Court found that the court of appeals erred in disregarding the statistical data in the record dealing with Hazelwood's hiring after Title VII and the court should have remanded the case to the district court for further findings as to the relevant labor market areas and the determination whether Hazelwood has formed a pattern or practice of employment discrimination.

Implications: It is very important that the hiring of faculty is opened to all races. The impact on teaching can be affected if there is only one race represented. If students don’t have someone who they can identify with it could cause them to feel out of place. It is important that students feel they have someone that they can relate to within the school in a teacher/faculty role. Having only one or a few chosen races represented at school could cause a breakdown in communication with students of another race. Not having a diverse faculty can cause some students to be unreachable. It isn’t that the student doesn’t want to learn, it would stem more from the fact that they are presented material in a way unfamiliar to them and in an environment where they feel uncomfortable.

Question: What was the mistake in the statistical data?

Hazelwood School District Et Al   v.    United States United States Supreme Court Argued April 27, 1977 Decided June 27, 1977 Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit __ Background __ The Hazelwood School District is in the rural portion of St. Louis County, Missouri. In the early 1970s, blacks accounted for less than 2% of teachers in the district, a significant contrast from the 15% in the city. The student population in the district was 2% black. Each principal within the district had complete discretion in hiring process, and did not have procedures in place for interviewing, giving them the option to rely largely on unquantifiable characteristics, such as appearance and poise. The Attorney General cited 55 examples of discrimination in his case against the district. He asked that the school district stop all discriminatory practices, take action to hire qualified black faculty, and to hire victims of past discrimination, paying them retroactively.

__ Decision and Rationale __ The District Court ruled in favor of Hazelwood because they believed the government had not proven its case of discrimination. They also thought that it was fine that the teacher population reflected the student population racially. The Court of Appeals reversed the decision on the grounds that the statistical comparison should be made between the teacher population and the qualified teacher population in the labor market in the area, not the student population. Secondly, the court found that 16 of the 55 instances of discrimination supported the government’s case against the school district. The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals, noting that the disproportionate percentages between the districts. Since a full one third of Hazelwood’s teachers came from within the city, the two districts should have been considered one labor market.

__ Implications __ Title VII of the Civil Rights Act forbids discrimination against women and blacks in the public arena. The final decision in this case supports that and gives instruction on how to use statistics.

__ Quiz Question __ In evaluating a district for adherence to the Civil Rights Act, what statistics are relevant to the teacher population? a. Composition of neighboring district’s faculty b. Composition of the student population of the district c. Composition of the defined labor market d. Composition of the voter registration listing

Reviewed independently by Eileen Boyd